Ben,
        >>most people don't and pay "professionals" to perform the work. They
should be entitled to rely upon work having been done correctly and not HAVE
to check it for themselves.<<

I agree completely.  When having a "pro" do work for you (in any field), you
should have the expectation of getting it right the first time and every
time. But in the case of John's brake job, the "pro" that worked on it has
been shown to be suspect by recent events.

>>if it was torqued properly and to specs, the likelihood of it working its
way loose is very low.<<

Again, complete agreement, but this was not the case, for whatever reason.
I, like you do most of my own brake work (along with just about everything
else) and trust that I'm doing it correctly.
It's my life in my hands!  I know my limits and let the "pros" handle what I
can't and trust them right up till they give me a reason not to.  My
suggestion to John was based on the failure of the "pro" to do his job
correctly in the first place, knowing what was at stake when his customer
drove off.

Mark
82 Westy

-----Original Message-----
From:   BenTbtstr8@aol.com [mailto:BenTbtstr8@aol.com]
Sent:   Sunday, August 13, 2000 7:09 PM
To:     skjeflo@telebyte.net; vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
Subject:        Re: Big doh! by mechanic

In a message dated 8/13/00 6:48:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
skjeflo@telebyte.net writes:

<<Thinking about this oversight, not checking ALL of the brake work done is
 downright scary. >>

I do my own brake work. However, most people don't and pay "professionals"
to
perform the work. They should be entitled to rely upon work having been done
correctly and not HAVE to check it for themselves. (Let's not argue about
who
or what is a professional at this juncture. We've all done that before.)

I agree that the bolt probably worked it's way loose. However, if it was
torqued properly and to specs, the likelihood of it working its way loose is
very low.

BenT